Dick Polman

Stories by Dick

Joe Biden has long been adept at talking with a foot in his mouth, so perhaps it’s no surprise late-ly he has overdosed on whoppers. Nevertheless, it has unnerved many Democrats to hear their 2020 front-runner oscillate so frequently between fact and fiction.

Deep into last week’s Democratic debate, exasperated Republican strategist John Weaver tweeted: “When the topic is criminal justice, how are they not talking about the criminal in the White House? Huh?”

The quintessential Ugly American arrived in England on Monday, where it didn’t take long for him to hurl insults at London’s mayor. But presumably his mood will be lightened by the absence of any American vessels bearing the name John McCain.

As I soldiered through Chris Christie’s spin-memoir “Let Me Finish,” I found myself flashing back to September 2011, when he was being widely touted as the GOP’s “Next Big Thing.” One particular ego-stroking incident at the Reagan Presidential Library must surely be one of his personal favorites.

Did my ears deceive me? Did I actually hear Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republicans and one of Trump’s infamous abetters, actually warn us that the president is a clear and present danger to our national security?

Charles Dickens wrote this about the French Revolution: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ... “

Shortly after the arrest of the DNA-linked domestic bomber - turns out, big shock, that he’s a “Make America Great Again” fan who took Trump’s incendiary words as permission to terrorize - an amazing moment transpired at the White House.

Feel free to tell yourself that Donald Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court because the guy went to Yale (Trump reportedly loves Ivy League creds), or because the guy has been thoroughly vetted by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society (the right-wing groups that have long been funneling conservative judges to the bench).

Whenever I ponder the despicable impotence of the congressional Republicans - especially now, as we lurch toward a national crisis long in the making - I am reminded of a famous poem by T. S. Eliot:
We are the hollow men

I hold this truth to be self-evident: If the dead Austin bomber had turned out to be a Muslim, Trump would be interrupting his current presidential duties to rail anew about the urgent need to thwart dangerous foreigners with walls and travel bans.